DoomsdaysCW<p>Why <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Navajo" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Navajo</span></a> is the world’s hardest language to learn<br>The tonal <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NativeAmerican" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NativeAmerican</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/language" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>language</span></a> differentiates words based on <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pitch" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pitch</span></a> and makes Spanish conjugation look like child’s play. </p><p>by Tim Brinkhof, November 27, 2023</p><p>"Concentrated in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Arizona" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Arizona</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NewMexico" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NewMexico</span></a>, the Navajo are one of the largest Native American groups in the United States. Consisting of up to 400,000 tribal members, they are thought to have originated from northwestern <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Canada</span></a> and were forcibly moved to their present location by the federal government in the 1860s during <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TheLongWalk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TheLongWalk</span></a>. </p><p>"Traditional Navajo families live in circular mud-and-log homes called hogans, create intricate ceremonial paintings made of sand, and hold four-day runs (a ritual called kinaalda) to celebrate young girls turning into adult women.</p><p>"Arguably, the most important aspect of Navajo culture is their language. Also known as <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Din%C3%A9" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Diné</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Bizaad" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bizaad</span></a> (the “people’s language”), Navajo is similar to <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Apache" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Apache</span></a>, from which it separated between 1300 and 1525 AD. Both Navajo and Apache belong to a language family called <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Athabaskan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Athabaskan</span></a>, which, providing evidence for their geographic origin, is also spoken by native tribes in <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Yukon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Yukon</span></a>, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Alaska" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Alaska</span></a>, and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BritishColumbia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BritishColumbia</span></a>. As with other Native American languages, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/globalization" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>globalization</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/discrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>discrimination</span></a> threaten Navajo’s survival. In 2017, the number of fluent speakers was estimated at 170,000, less than half of the tribe’s population.</p><p>"Learning Navajo isn’t easy. Compared to other complicated but more widely spoken languages, like Korean or Arabic, there are limited resources available to non-speakers. Mastery of Navajo language also requires a level of familiarity with Navajo customs, something even some Indigenous people no longer have access to. </p><p>"That said, the most daunting aspect of learning Navajo is the language itself. Described by linguists Robert W. Young and William Morgan as a 'hopeless maze of irregularities,' its unique grammar, syntax, and tonal pronunciation are so indecipherable to outsiders that, during the Second World War, the American army used Navajo as a form of military code."</p><p><a href="https://bigthink.com/high-culture/navajo-language/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">bigthink.com/high-culture/nava</span><span class="invisible">jo-language/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CulturalPreservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CulturalPreservation</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndigenousLanguages" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IndigenousLanguages</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndigenousCulture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IndigenousCulture</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Linguistics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Linguistics</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Anthropology" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Anthropology</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Codetalkers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Codetalkers</span></a></p>